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Feature Fridays: “Confronting Injustice”

I realised I missed out last week on Feature Fridays but I hope you’ll forgive me since I was out of my regular habitat!

This semester I have the privilege of studying the subject, ‘Human Rights Lawyering’. It’s a subject that really resounds with why I made the decision to study law… it’s quite simple really: I want to help people. I want to give voice to those who have none, I want to right wrongs and bring justice to the vulnerable.

We were told to watch the video below in preparation for our first class. At first I wasn’t keen on sitting through a video that would take nearly an hour but having been mesmerised by it, I would highly recommend it to every individual, whether law student or not, to watch it and be inspired and challenged to speak up for the marginalised in your circle by one of the ‘greatest lawyers in America’.

Favourite quotes:

“Your words have power… a law degree ‘amplifies your voice’”

“The opportunity is great, but the sometimes the willingness to speak is not as great.”

“You need to be brave: willingness to believe that you can actually do the things that must be done.”

“I do what I do because I am broken”… “each person is more than the worst thing they have ever done”

“The opposite of poverty is not wealth, it is justice”

“Be hopeful: in hope there is the possibility of change”

Though he did not mention his own beliefs and values, he did speak about his mother and grandmother, both (from the sounds of it) great women of faith and I think their influence is reflected in his own strongly held convictions.